In the latest edition of TIME, the venerable publication features “10 Questions for Ray Kurzweil,” in which they ask him about how technology will change the way we live, including the role of artificial intelligence, food production, longevity, and even whether we’ll discover extraterrestrial intelligence. A sample: You predict we’ll reach a point with artificial [...]
Posts under ‘Transhumanism’
To the mainstream, transhumanism is still really weird
Sometimes I’m reminded that many of the concepts transhumanists regularly discuss and work toward – cryonics, mind uploading, molecular nanotechnology, life extension and so on – are still extremely foreign and odd to most humans. Try telling your friends you hope to live forever through advanced technologies and see how they react. Then talk to [...]
For those unable to attend the H+ Summit…
If you were unable to travel to Harvard this weekend to attend the H+ Summit, The Speculist is liveblogging the event. Even better, the Summit is live streaming here.
The State of Transhumanism Around the World
Over at The Extropist Examiner, Hank Hyena has a fascinating article about where transhumanist ideas and technologies are progressing and taking hold around the world. I had no idea, for example, that a Russian company is leading the way in inexpensive cryopreservation, that Italy is poised to be a world leader in service robots, or [...]
R.U. Sirius offers his utopian vision for a transhuman future
One of my favorite blogs, io9, has been running a series of posts on “posthumanity” from both fiction and real-life. Today R.U. Sirius of h+ Magazine has a great post up about his “best-case scenario for posthumanity.” In it, he describes what his ideal vision of the future might look like, which includes open-source style [...]
Top 5 TED talks on transhumanism
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) brings together some of the world’s top thinkers at conferences around the world to deliver short presentations on “ideas worth spreading.” Not surprisingly, several speakers have delivered talks on topics of interest to transhumanists, such as life extension, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and more. One of the great things about TED is [...]
Rutgers to offer course on “Singularity Studies”
This summer, Rutgers University-Camden is offering what sounds like an incredible course in “Singularity Studies,” described as “The Future of Humanity in the Age of Superhuman Artificial Intelligence.” The instructors are Ben Goertzel, Ph.D, known for his leadership positions at many transhumanist organizations (including the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Humanity+) and Ted Goertzel, [...]
Will we be mining the moon in the next ten years?
A feature in the Montreal Gazette examines ten predicted innovations that will take place over the next decade. Most of them are completely plausible. The full list is as follows: Lunar mining Medical miniaturization 3-D printing Smarter smart phones Cloud computing Nanotechnology Flying on algae (algae-based fuels) Living forever Biotechnology Alternative energies We’re already seeing [...]
Top Transhuman Trends and Stories of 2009 – Part One
As we enter 2010, I’d like to take a look back at the previous year to take a look at some of the major technological developments that will play a role in our transhuman future – and are easing the transition. In no particular order, please find part one of the Top Transhuman Trends and [...]
Scott Adams: “You’re already a cyborg.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams makes the argument that modern smartphones serve as “exobrains” that provide humans with extraordinary abilities – navigation by satellite, remembering phone numbers, accessing information via the Internet, and more. He believes the fact that we rely so heavily on these devices makes us “cyborgs.” But our current devices are only the [...]